Packing

North to Alaska!

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I love trip planning and we tend to be independent travellers, so we don’t have much experience with organized tours and luxury cruises. In fact, with the exception of a three day river cruise in China in 2013, our recent Alaska cruise was our first.

I grew up on the BC coast and the ocean has always been my happy place, so in spite of the fact that it was very different from our usual kind of travel, this trip was something that had been on my unwritten bucket list for a long time. We chose Princess Cruises for two reasons. First, it’s reputed to be one of the more relaxed, laid-back cruise lines and secondly, they offered exactly what we wanted, a 7 day Inside Passage cruise departing from Vancouver on August 12, fitting perfectly with our other reasons for being in Vancouver. 

With 3500+ people on board (passengers and crew), swimming pools, theatres, multiple restaurants and bars, a spa, and a casino, the Grand Princess was really a floating resort.

We sailed under the Lions Gate Bridge and out of the Vancouver harbour on a stunningly beautiful afternoon.

Mount Baker, approximately 140 km (87 miles) to the south in the state of Washington, was clearly visible looming over the city skyline.

It was the beautiful coastal views, enjoyed from the solitude of our stateroom balcony, that thrilled my heart the most though.

There’s a vast array of activities to take part in on board a cruise ship. We enjoyed attending sessions with award-winning author and photographer, Nick Jans, and retired Alaska forest ranger, Pete Griffin. Although we tried our luck at the cheapest slot machines in the casino, we didn’t spend much time there and didn’t come away any wealthier! The evening shows in the Princess Theatre were superb and rather than spending time in the bars, we chose to sip wine on our balcony while enjoying the scenery.

The food was excellent and, of course, I loved the fact that I didn’t have to cook for the whole week! We chose to eat breakfast and lunch at the ship’s buffet and dinner in the dining rooms where we ordered from excellent and varied menus. While there were many other options, I love seafood and what better place to enjoy it than on the ocean? I even tried a couple of kinds of fish that I hadn’t tasted before. As a diabetic, my favourite part was the fact that there were sugar-free desserts available at every meal! I definitely indulged and the bathroom scale tells me that I gained five pounds. I’m hoping that all the walking that I’m doing as part of my Hoofing It fundraiser for neuroendocrine cancer research will wear it off.

Typically, a 7 day cruise includes two formal nights when passengers are encouraged to dress up. I wasn’t sure how we’d deal with those. I’d seen packing lists that included tuxedos and evening gowns, but we don’t own such things and considering how challenging it was to pack for this three part trip, I had no intention of hauling hubby’s suit along with us. I did pack a couple of simple dresses for myself and dress pants, a dress shirt, and a tie for him. As it turns out, we had nothing to worry about. While a few people did dress more formally, even in the dining rooms most weren’t dressed any fancier than we were.

August is one of Alaska’s rainiest months and the weather can be quite chilly, so packing lists also included warm sweaters, insulated jackets, and rain gear. While we were happy to have warm clothing to bundle up in while viewing a tidewater glacier and looking for whales (we only caught glimpses at a distance) and we did have rain at one of our ports of call, we mostly enjoyed good weather.

Our cruise included stops at Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan, and a side trip up Endicott Arm to see Dawes Glacier, but I’ll write about those in a separate post.

Traveling again: family time

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Prior to yesterday’s post, the blog had been silent for three weeks. That’s because I was traveling again! For much of that time, I didn’t have internet access and when I did, I was too busy to write about what I was doing. Now that I’m home again, I’m looking forward to reliving some of those experiences as I share them with you.

Our most recent trip was really three in one and, as such, was definitely the most difficult one I’ve ever had to pack for. It started with a family reunion at the beginning of August. Over 70 of hubby’s relatives gathered at his youngest brother’s farm for a fun-filled long weekend.

It was a time of visiting, catching up, food, games, campfires, and even some shenanigans!

When one of the brothers went a little overboard teasing his younger sister about the bright caftans and wide brimmed hat that she wore to protect herself from the sun, a bunch of us gals decided to join her! In spite of our wacky outfits, I love this selfie of my daughter and I.

It was especially fun to watch the children. Second and third cousins, many who’d never met before, quickly became fast friends. Within minutes of arriving, our 11-year-old autistic grandson was part of a “cult” with creative code names like “Walmart Shopping Bag” and “Ikea Dining Table”! On a hot afternoon, a rousing game of Human Battleship with water balloons morphed into a giant water fight. A visit to the nearby cemetery to place refurbished headstones on old family graves was a more sombre moment and I was very moved by the response to a silent auction to raise funds for neuroendocrine cancer and Parkinson’s disease research. Half the proceeds put me within $100 of my Hoofing It fundraiser goal.

Like most of the crowd, we stayed in our trailer during the reunion, but then we left it at the farm and picked it up again after the second and third parts of our vacation which included a road trip to Vancouver and an Alaskan cruise. That’s why packing was such a conundrum! I could easily pack for any one of the three, but making the transition from trailer to road trip to cruise was a challenge even for someone with as much packing experience as I have!

The trip to Vancouver was also about family. It was the first time since our father passed away at the beginning of March 2020, less than a week before the Covid pandemic shut the world down, that all three of my siblings and I were able to be in Vancouver at the same time. In his younger years, Dad was an avid mountaineer and mountains were his passion, so it only seemed fitting that his final resting place be on one of the mountains overlooking the city where he was born and spent much of his life. On the morning of August 9, nine family members hiked the short, but fairly steep trail to beautiful Mystery Lake and selected a secluded spot nearby to finally lay his ashes to rest. 

The following day we celebrated my beloved older brother’s 75th birthday. Surrounded by family, friends, and caregivers, Donald was the man of the hour! 

To read Donald’s story, visit this post that I wrote more than a decade ago. It was later published in the Community Living Society’s quarterly publication, The Communicator. 

Part three of our trip was the Alaska cruise. In order to keep this post from becoming too long and because I’m still sorting through the 300+ photos that I took on that portion of the trip, I’ll share it in a separate post (or maybe even more than one) within the next few days. 

All packed and ready to go!

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We’re packed and ready to set off on our next big adventure, but I don’t remember ever having so much trouble deciding what to put in a suitcase! I pondered for a long time and even tried on several different combinations before finally settling on what I would take. Looking back at my packing review from our 2019 trip to Europe helped. Interestingly, a few of the same pieces are going with me again this time! I also thought about what would be culturally appropriate and, of course, I considered the weather. 

Due to the sensitive nature of the area and the ministry that we’ll be involved in, I’ll only be able to share the tourist parts of our trip on the blog, but according to weather forecasts for the various locations that we’ll be travelling to, it looks like daytime temperatures will mostly be in the mid to high 20s C (75 to 85ºF). I suspect that some, but not all, of the facilities that we’ll spend time in will be air conditioned, so we need to be prepared for that as well.  

Although we’re leaving home today, we don’t actually fly out until Monday. Over the weekend, hubby and I will be attending a national neuroendocrine cancer patient conference in Calgary where I’ll be sharing my patient story tomorrow afternoon. That complicated the packing process somewhat because we’ll be wearing things at the conference that we won’t be taking overseas with us. When the conference is over, we’ll spend Sunday night at our daughter’s and then leave our vehicle with her. That meant that I could also pack a separate tote bag to leave there while we’re gone. I just have to make sure that everything is in the right place when we leave for the airport!  

I expect to have internet access most of the time that we’re away and hope to squeeze in time to update the blog from time to time, so come along and travel with us! 

Choosing 10 key wardrobe items for fall

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logo-by-samI was scrolling through Facebook recently when I came across this reel by wardrobe consultant and blogger, Sarah Kelly who calls herself The Haute Homemaker. In it, she shares the ten pieces that she would include if she were starting her wardrobe off from scratch this fall. With them, she says that she could create endless outfit possibilities.

At the time, I was about to begin my seasonal wardrobe switch from spring/summer to fall/winter and I was also thinking about what I would pack for the trip that we’re now on. That led me to ask myself which items I would choose from my fall wardrobe if I had to limit myself to just ten. As I packed away most of my warm weather clothes and brought out the cooler weather ones, I worked on my list. Socks, underwear, and pyjamas didn’t count and unlike Kelly, I decided not to include coats or footwear in my ten. Considering the climate and my lifestyle, I would probably need to include a couple of coats and at least two or three pairs of shoes. That wouldn’t leave me much else to wear!

I seriously thought about including my denim military jacket because it’s new and I love it. It was on the list and off again more than once, as were my dark brown corduroy pants, but neither of them made the final cut. I decided that if I had to I could get away with just two pairs of pants as long as one of them could be dressed up or down. In order to create a variety of outfits that would suit my lifestyle, I decided that the rest should be tops and layering pieces. Most, if not all of my choices, have appeared on the blog before. After much thought, here’s my list:

  1. jeans
  2. navy pinstriped pants
  3. sleeveless top
  4. 3/4 sleeve top
  5. long sleeve t-shirt
  6. long sleeve shirt
  7. pullover sweater
  8. cardigan
  9. lightweight hoodie
  10. Uniqlo ultralight down vest

Depending on where you live and what stage of life you’re at, if you were to make a similar list, yours might look entirely different from mine. I’m retired, so mine didn’t have to include items that would be suitable for a work environment although some of them probably would be. On the other hand, until the snow flies, I want to be able to continue to enjoy outdoor pursuits like hiking, so I needed to take that into account.

Now, here are some of the outfits I created with the ten pieces. I’ve included both casual and dressier looks. As you can see, I could easily create more by mixing and matching. I could also vary these looks with different accessories and footwear.

I’m faking! Hubby was raking leaves when I interrupted him to take photos for the blog.

The key word in this exercise is if. I’m not actually going to limit myself to only these ten items and while I did pack most of them, I also have a few other pieces with me on this trip. I do, however, remember my self-imposed fashion fast during the fall of 2021 when I wore only six items from my closet for 30 days. I definitely learned to be more creative in coming up with different ways to combine the same pieces and I also put a lot of thought into how to use accessories to add variety.

Just doing this exercise, thinking about which pieces I wear most often and which are most essential to me, has had two definite benefits. It has reminded me that I, like most people, have way more clothes than I really need and it’s shown me a gap in this season’s wardrobe that I’d like to fill. Maybe more about that in a future post, but for now, I have miles to go and people to see!

What I packed for the conference

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Logo by SamLast weekend, I had the privilege of attending and participating in a three day Canadian Neuroendocrine Tumour Society (CNETS) conference in Montreal. Prior to going, I thought a lot about what to pack. Retired for more than a decade, I no longer have a professional wardrobe and I certainly wasn’t going to go shopping for clothes that I likely wouldn’t use again. Since most of my wardrobe is what I would categorize as classy casual, I shopped my closet and carefully chose outfits for each day. Most, if not all of the clothes have appeared on the blog before.

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I left my photographer at home, so I had to resort to taking selfies using the full length mirror that was tucked into the corner of my lovely room in the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth hotel in downtown Montreal. I clearly should have taken all the photos after dark when the lighting worked better for photography, but I’ve done my best to manipulate the remaining photos so that you can see what I wore.

For traveling, I like to be warm and comfy, so I chose my new striped sweater, jeans, and a very comfortable pair of white sneakers. My plane was delayed for four hours by a nasty snowstorm, so it was cold, wet, and very blustery when I finally arrived in Montreal. My bright red Calvin Klein jacket served me well and while you can’t see it hidden behind my coat, I carried my favourite travel purse which is very lightweight and large enough to carry any extras that I might need while traveling or exploring.

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Day 1 was a learning and working day for a small group of us from across the country who are part of a newly formed CNETS Advocacy Advisory Board. While we had already met online several times, this was our first face to face get together.

The colours in the photo above are particularly bad, so I recreated my outfit below to give you a better look. I wore a semi dressy pair of navy pinstriped pants, one of the few items in my wardrobe that are left over from my teaching days. Now that wide legs are on trend again, they’re back in style! A sleeveless cabi top and a cardigan, also from cabi, completed the outfit. I was especially glad that I’d chosen to wear the cardigan, a workhorse in my wardrobe, as our meeting room was quite chilly, especially first thing in the morning. I’m also glad that sneakers go with anything these days!

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Day 2 was a medical and scientific meeting. With the exception of those of us on the advocacy board who were asked to attend, this was a day for medical professionals who care for neuroendocrine patients. It took place last Saturday, so I wondered if the participants would dress professionally or, since it was a day off for them, would they dress more casually? Not having an answer to this question in advance, I wondered how I should dress.

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Again, limited by what’s in my closet as well as my desire to be comfortable while sitting for many hours trying to absorb the information that was being presented, I chose carefully. I wore dark brown corduroy pants, the sleeveless animal print top that I recently featured here, and the same cardigan as the day before. As you can see, I did fit a second pair of shoes into my tiny suitcase. While most of the participants were dressed quite professionally, I didn’t feel out of place in this outfit.

Day 3 was a national patient conference available both in-person and online. For that day, I simply added a necklace to my travel outfit. It’s mostly hidden behind my phone in the photo!

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In addition to what I’ve shown you here, another important item in my suitcase was my swimsuit. I seldom travel without one. After long days soaking up information about everything from how treatments and medications are approved and why it takes so long for them to go from being developed to becoming accessible to patients to disparities in cancer care to new developments in research to NET cancer pathology and treatment, my brain was on overload and I much appreciated the opportunity to unwind in the hotel hot tub and sauna on two of the evenings while I was there.

I would definitely give myself a high mark for packing on this trip. Everything I needed fit easily into my teeny tiny carry-on and I felt completely at ease in everything I wore. Definitely a win!

One top, several looks

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Logo by SamI didn’t do a post about what I packed for our recent trip to Mexico, but regardless of where you’re going or for how long, the key to packing successfully is to choose pieces that coordinate well with one another so that they can be combined in different ways. One easy way to do that is to choose a limited colour palette. For our recent trip, I chose mainly blues and neutrals.

Today, I’m going to show you several ways that I wore one top with other pieces from my suitcase. The photos were taken in our hotel room as I didn’t want to climb up and down Mount Dunamar (our nickname for the 60 stairs from ground level to our fourth storey room) in between outfits.

First, let’s look at the Calvin Klein top that I bought second-hand at one of our local thrift shops in the summer of 2022. Simple and sleeveless with a gathered neckline, it can easily be dressed up or down. The timeless animal print pattern in black, white, and beige coordinates well with other neutrals.

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For a casual daytime look, I wore the top with a pair of white shorts.

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To go for dinner, I wore it over a little black sheath dress that I’ve probably had for 30 years or more. It originally came with a separate chiffon overlay, but all I remember about that piece is that it was predominantly red. That’s how long it’s been gone from my closet! The little black dress is perfect for travel because it doesn’t wrinkle, hardly takes up any space in a suitcase, and while I probably wouldn’t wear it alone, it can be worn with so many other things. 

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The wide-legged pants in the next few photos didn’t actually go to Mexico in my suitcase, but they did come home with me. I fell in love with them in the resort gift shop. When I discovered that they were made in Mexico and that they were on sale for more than 75% off their original price, I knew they were meant to be mine. Since a general rule of thumb is that a fuller shape on the bottom looks best with a more fitted top, they paired well with the animal print top, but my dilemma was whether or not to to tuck it in. I rarely tuck my tops in because I think that that emphasizes the fact that I don’t have a very feminine waistline, but I liked the interesting waistband and wanted to show it off. 

I decided to step outside my comfort zone and wear the outfit to dinner with the top tucked in. Which look do you like better? 

The pants are very lightweight, totally unsuitable for winter in Alberta, so they’re now in storage with the rest of my warm weather clothes, but I’m looking forward to wearing them again when summer returns. The top is one of those pieces that stays in my closet year round though because it can easily be worn under a cardigan or jacket. 

Packing review

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Logo by SamThough I still have one more blog post to write to finish up our trip to Mexico, we are home and for today’s post, I thought I’d do a quick review of what I packed. Once again, we found that traveling carry-on only was the way to go. It’s so easy and there are no baggage fees and no waiting around at airport luggage carousels wondering if our suitcases made it onto the right plane.

But what about the contents of that little carry-on suitcase? Did I pack the right things? Did I take enough of everything? First, let’s review what I packed:

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This was my original packing list. In addition, I put a swimsuit on the bottom of my bag just in case I had an opportunity to use it (I didn’t) and I tossed in one pair of shorts.

  • 1 pair of jeans
  • 2 pairs lightweight long pants
  • 2 pairs capris
  • 1 pair leggings
  • 1 camisole
  • 7 tops – 3 long sleeved, 1 with 3/4 length sleeves, 3 sleeveless
  • 1 dress
  • 1 dressy black jacket
  • 1 ultra light down vest
  • 1 lightweight hoodie
  • 1 light jacket
  • 1 hat
  • 1 pair sandals
  • 3 pairs shoes
  • sleepwear, underwear, and socks

Overall, I think I did a fairly good job of deciding what to take, but if I had it to do again, I might make a few changes. I only wore the top with 3/4 length sleeves once, so I could easily have left it at home. I wore the leggings to a zumba class with our hostess, but I could have worn shorts or capris for that and though I did wear the camisole once on a particularly chilly day, it wasn’t essential either. If I’d known how warm the weather was going to be, I probably would have taken one less pair of long pants and one more pair of capris or shorts, but we had to be prepared for the cooler days that often do occur at this time of year. I’m extremely glad that I did decide to throw in that one pair of shorts though as I wore them a lot. I only wore the dress and the dressy black jacket once for an evening at the symphony in Xalapa, but I definitely wanted to be able to dress up for that.

On our previous visits to Coatepec, we took most of our clothes that needed laundering out to a commercial laundry or washed them by hand. This time, however, we discovered that when the price per kilo of laundry had gone up as well as the price of the taxi to haul it to and from, our hosts had decided to purchase a washing machine. That definitely made things easier and meant that we probably could have gotten away with packing a few less things, especially socks and underwear. As we’ve done in the past, though, we packed mostly old worn out underwear that we could throw away before we came home. That left a wee bit of room to carry home the half kilo of macadamia nuts that hubby yearned for!

Good footwear is essential on any trip, but especially when the sidewalks that we walked on almost every day looked like this.

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But did I really need four pairs? Possibly not, but other than the dressy black pair that I wore only for a birthday party and the evening at the symphony, I put many miles on all three of the other pairs. The Clarks sandals that I bought at one of our local thrift stores last summer are very comfortable to walk in as are the little grey flats that have memory foam insoles.

Now that we’re finally traveling again, I’m looking forward to the next time I get to pack my teeny tiny carry-on suitcase. I don’t know when that will be or where we’ll be going, but I’ll be sure to let you know!

Packing again!

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For the first time in almost four years, we’ve purchased tickets, made our plans, and I’m busy packing our suitcases! This will be our first flight since Covid, but our third trip to visit friends who live in Coatepec, a typical Mexican town located in the highlands about four hours east of Mexico City. On both previous trips, we checked a large suitcase, but this time we’re going carry-on only. Everything we need for two and a half weeks has to fit into our two tiny suitcases, my purse, and hubby’s small backpack.

First, let’s take a look at what I was hoping would fit in my suitcase. The photo and list below also include what I’ll be wearing on the plane.

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Packing list:

  • 1 pair of jeans
  • 2 pairs lightweight long pants
  • 2 pairs capris
  • 1 pair leggings
  • 1 camisole
  • 7 tops – 3 long sleeved, 1 with 3/4 length sleeves, 3 sleeveless
  • 1 dress
  • 1 dressy black jacket
  • 1 ultra light down vest
  • 1 lightweight hoodie
  • 1 light jacket
  • 1 hat
  • 1 pair sandals
  • 3 pairs shoes
  • sleepwear, underwear, and socks

You’ll probably notice that this isn’t what a typical tourist would pack for their trip to a Mexican beach resort. That’s because Coatepec isn’t a tourist destination and doesn’t have a beach. At approximately 1200 metres above sea level, the weather is pleasant, but not always hot. It cools off significantly at night and the houses don’t have central heating so we need to be prepared to dress accordingly. Although I don’t actually expect to have an opportunity to use it, I did decide to tuck a swimsuit into the bottom of my suitcase just in case! I really don’t like to leave home without one. At the last minute, when I saw that there was enough space, I also decided to squeeze in a pair of shorts.

There are two keys to successfully packing light. The first is coordinating colours. As you can see from the photo, I’ve chosen a simple colour palette and pieces that will easily mix and match to create numerous different outfits. The second key is layering. For example, the dress is very lightweight. It can be worn alone or with the little black jacket. For a chillier evening out, it can even be worn over the black leggings. The light blue denim shirt on the bottom of the pile above can be worn alone or as a third piece over any of the sleeveless tops. Depending on the weather, the hoodie, down vest, and jacket can each be worn individually or I can layer them as I will be doing when we board the plane in sub zero temperatures.

Another trick to successful packing is utilizing space wisely. Can you see hubby’s sandals, a pair of my shoes, spare eyeglasses for each of us, and two pairs of socks in this photo? I can!

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Many travellers swear that you can fit more into your suitcase by rolling everything instead of folding, but that hasn’t been my experience. I prefer to fold basics like pants and tops, but I roll a lot of the other items. I’ve also never used packing cubes.

Our clothes pretty much fill the tiny carry-on suitcases. My laptop (a lightweight 13 inch MacBook Air), my camera, cords, chargers, our toiletries, and our prescription medications will be in hubby’s backpack. We’ll also tuck in a few paperback books for him which he’ll leave behind when he finishes reading them. That will give us a bit of extra space if we need it on the way home. I’ve loaded five books onto my Kindle which takes up hardly any room in my travel purse.

Hopefully I haven’t forgotten anything, but if I have, there are stores in Coatepec!

My one dress Christmas season

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Logo by SamPrior to the pandemic, hubby and I had half a dozen or more Christmas events to attend each December. When we were still working, there were staff parties, of course, but even in retirement there were dinners, dances, and parties. All that seems to have changed and this year we had only one Christmas event to attend together, a catered banquet and program put on by our church.

In 2018 and 2019, I actually sat down in late November and made lists of what I’d wear to each December event, right down to the accessories. It made getting ready so easy, but this year there was no need to do that. Even without all those events, it’s been a busy month and I don’t know how we would have fit in much more, but I do miss all those opportunities to dress up! 

In addition to the church banquet, I did have one other very special event to attend. Last Thursday evening, my daughter-in-law Colleen, granddaughter Harlow, and I had a girls’ night out. We went to see an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ beloved classic, A Christmas Carol, at Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre. We even had front row seats. Front row might not actually be the best seats in the house, but for 13-year-old Harlow’s first exposure to professional theatre, being so close to the action was very exciting!

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I saw very few dresses on women in the audience, but I was happy for an opportunity to wear an old favourite of mine, the midnight blue Dream Dress from cabi’s Spring 2019 collection. You first saw it on the blog here. Since it’s winter in Alberta, I wore it over leggings and tall black boots this time. 

After spending the weekend in the city, we got home just in time to get ready for the church banquet on Sunday evening. I pulled the dress out of the suitcase and wore it again, changing only my accessories! That’s one of the things I love about the Dream Dress. The floaty polyester fabric and the underslip take up virtually no space in a suitcase and come out without a wrinkle. 

Speaking of suitcases, I’ll soon be packing for our trip to Vancouver where we’ll be spending Christmas with our oldest son and his family. I don’t know that we’ll have any need for dressy outfits, but I’ll tuck in something that would work just in case. 

 

Packing for the in-between season

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LogoLast year at exactly this time, I wrote a post about deciding what to wear for a day away from home during this in-between season when the weather is so unpredictable. This year, my challenge was much greater as it involved packing a suitcase!

At home on the prairie, the geese are returning and the gophers have come out of hibernation, but there are still patches of snow on the ground. We’re travelling through high mountain passes where winter conditions are still a distinct possibility, but our destination is the coast where flowers will be blooming and rain showers are likely. Daytime high temperatures there are likely to be around 10ºC (50ºF). How do you pack for all of that?

There’s a “just in case” bag in the back of the vehicle with heavy coats, toques, scarves, and gloves, and we each brought along a pair of winter boots. I’m seriously hoping that we don’t need any of those things, but as they say, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Layering is always the key to coping with varying temperatures and weather conditions, so I packed accordingly. I want to be able to add or subtract layers as the days warm up or cool off. For the most part, the clothes in the suitcase came from my fall/winter wardrobe, but I did go into storage and pull out a couple of the warmer items from my spring/summer collection. The majority of what I packed was neutral in colour allowing me to mix and match, creating a variety of different looks with a limited number of pieces.

The main purpose of our trip is to be with my special brother who is having surgery on Monday, but since that’s taking us to the coast at such a beautiful time of year and since it feels like forever since we’ve had a real holiday, we’ve added a few days in Victoria to our plans. Casual outfits will work well for most of what we plan to do, but I’ll probably want to dress up a bit for a couple of events. Accessories take up very little space and easily add polish to an outfit when that’s what’s needed.

A change of shoes can also give an outfit a lift. That’s one area where I can indulge myself on a trip like this one. When we fly, the number of pairs of shoes I can take is limited by suitcase space, but when we travel by vehicle I can fit in many more! Comfort is key, however. We plan to do a lot of walking, especially when we’re in Victoria, so I made sure to bring more than one pair of comfortable, supportive walking shoes. That way if one pair gets wet, I’ll have another to change into. We also packed umbrellas!

I’m not sure if I’ll be posting anything for Fashion Friday the next two weeks, but it will be a treat to be able to write some travel posts instead! Do stay tuned!